Fresh from the success of Crew’s music that saw divas Kareena Kapoor, Tabu and Kriti Sanon break into a shimmy, IP Singh delivers a power-packed punch to the title song of the recently-released Kartik Aaryan-headlined Chandu Champion. With simple lyrics, Singh makes the song impactful, resonating with the true spirit of the Paralympic gold medallist Murlikant Petkar essayed in the Kabir Khan-directed biographical drama. A t2 interview with the composer-musician.
While your last project was more about nostalgia and recreating old hits in Crew, Chandu Champion is a different film altogether. How does it feel being part of a biopic by Kabir Khan?
When I came to Mumbai I realised that it’s not the amount of work you do that matters rather the people that you work with. In that sense I feel I am quite lucky that I have had the chance to work with one of the biggest directors like Rajkumar Hirani, in the past. Chandu Champion is equally important for being a Kabir Khan film. Also, Pritam da trusted me with the project. I got a lot of encouragement and trust from Kabir sir as well.
What was the vision of Kabir Khan and Pritam for the song and how did you work on it?
Pritam da’s brief was to make an energetic song that would define the tone of the film. From Kabir sir the brief was that although it will be a big song there needs to be simplicity in it. So he advised me to use simple words to convey feelings and emotions, with which people can quickly connect with. So through simple words, I have tried to convey big things and I think it has come out really well.
Often creating something simple is a complex task. Tell us how you managed to work on this simple element for the song?
I always remain in that zone. When you sit and try to tell yourself that I want to make something special then there’s a lot of pressure that overpowers you. But when you want simple things, the work becomes a lot easier. Simple things come very naturally to me. I also enjoy that. Also, I personally believe that it’s important to say things in simple words, rather than making it complex. However, I think it was a challenge to make it suit the film and the tune so that everyone would like it including people who are part of the song.
How did you channelise the energy and spirit of Murlikant Petkar in the song? Who was your inspiration?
If you look at the story, it’s an incredible one. Many people achieve one thing and then a film is made on that. However, here his success is not just restricted to one thing or event. He has made the country proud not once but twice and that itself gives one big inspiration to work hard. So lyrics like Sher ki chaal chal raha, banke to aag jal raha… came in very naturally to me. I loved Pritam da’s music and got inspiration from there as well. The entire process was like writing for Arjun, the character from the Mahabharata.
Take us through your influences when it comes to writing lyrics.
There are many. I have been an ardent fan of Sahir Ludhianvi sahab. Among contemporary talents, I am a fanboy of Amitabh Bhattacharya. I have met him a few times but only as a fanboy. He has given a new direction to films by using contemporary words and simplifying orthodox language. I admire his writing style. I remember when his song Emotional Atyachaar was released it blew me to think how effortlessly he included an English word in the song and Indianised it so much so that it’s part of our lingo. I have learnt a lot from him.
What’s next?
In terms of writing lyrics, I take a project when people trust me with it. Otherwise, as Akshay and IP, we are working on a lot of projects for films and OTT platforms. Since we also work with fashion designers for their music, there are some exciting things coming up there as well, apart from our original numbers. Also, after the success of Crew people are showing more interest in working with us and that is keeping us more excited.
Farah Khatoon